Currently, if you were to look at my resume, it'd look something like this:
"Renee Dorer
Major: Undeclared, minor in English"
This is a little bit uncommon at WPI, where people declare their majors after the first semester of higher education. Yes, I know, we declare majors ridiculously early. Yes, I know that most institutions have students declare their majors sophomore year. WPI moves at a faster pace, to be fair. Partially due to the quarter system, partially due to the project-based curriculum. Why WPI has students declare their majors so soon is a mystery.
However, the number one major for incoming college freshmen is undeclared. And I will likely be one of those who are undeclared. Everyone has their own reasons for not declaring, or even contemplating not declaring, their major.
For example, my contemplation of not declaring my major stems from taking one single physics class my first time. Not only did I decide that the specific physics class was likely not the best decision, but I learned that I was not as passionate about physics as I thought I was. I learned that although I enjoyed labs, physically learning the material and doing homework problems was like rubbing my forehead with a cheese grater. I appreciated physics, but going into a field like that would be pure and utter torture.
Then it hit me: what if I'm not in love with biology anymore? What if I'm only really passionate about chemistry? Was biomedical engineering a good career path for the subjects that I was interested in? Those questions lead me to decide that, because most curriculums at WPI have similar requirements, it wouldn't kill me to go undecided. WPI is also a tech school, so I will get exposed to the variety of careers that the STEM field has to offer. It really won't hurt to go undecided, I have concluded.
In the end, I am one of the many college freshmen who will be undecided this year. So many freshmen actually go into college undecided because they are eighteen and just got the first taste of adulthood. It's a little bit ridiculous to ask a college freshmen what they what to do with their lives when, just a few months ago, they were still finishing up core classes required for graduation. Very few high school students even get the opportunity to shadow someone in the workforce and even fewer seize the opportunity to do so. It's a blessing for those students, but not a blessing that's used often.
If you love the experience, that's great. If you don't, it's not the end of the world if you decide to go into college undecided in your major. Chances are, you'll take a class and click with it and run. Most college curriculums require some of the same core classes as well, so going in undecided does not hurt your college education at all. It just buys you some more time to figure out what you want to do for a career. Is that the worst thing in the world? Not at all.
